Long before Latin music was heard at all hours in any corner of the planet, a marriage of Cuban exiles gave the first blow in 1985 with the song Conga. A single with which they knocked on the door of Sony up to seven times without luck. But luck was on his side. Conga It was the world’s world glory success (Havana, 67 years old), which followed hundreds. The artist, who has sold more than one hundred million albums, presents this Thursday Rootsthe first in Spanish for 18 years.
Seven years after CongaEmilio himself was president of Sony Latino and marriage began to create an empire that has its base in Miami, from where they shaped and helped be born to dozens of O Ricky Martin. Miami is the place they call home, like thousands of Cuban exiles. She arrived in Florida with two years and never left. Now it continues from there with “concern and fear” drifting. That is why he believes that it is more important than ever to celebrate the “Latin roots.”
In Sony’s studies in New York days before his last release. He is accompanied by Emilio, who has written several of the lyrics, and is happy as if it were the first time he takes out an album. While listening to the songs in a studio, they continue the pace with their feet and sometimes look at some shyness. “Yes, we are happy,” she will say later. Nothing less.
Ask. What are your roots?
Answer. My roots are Asturian. My grandfather had a family in Pola de Siero and went to Cuba. My grandmother’s grandparents were also Spanish, like much of the Cubans. I was in Cuba only two years when I was born, but it is a very strong root. My mother instilled it in me, I think she swallowed. When we arrived in the United States, the idea was to return and it was very important for her to maintain those Cuban roots in music, in food, in the way of being. And when he saw that we were not going to return, even more. So in my house only Spanish was spoken. I grew up listening to Cuban music: Cachao, Celia Cruz, Olga Guillot, La Lupe … and also people like Nat King Cole, who went a lot to Cuba and my mother was a fan. Andy Williams, Los Panchos trio, Javier Solís. All of that are my roots. I also feel Lebanese because I have been with Emilio for longer than without him and I could live very close to his parents. So I feel a citizen of the world, I’m comfortable wherever I’m going.
P. Will you ever step on Cuba?
R. I stepped on Cuba in 79, with Jimmy Carter. We wanted to get Emilio’s brother with his two children. It was very difficult for me, my mother didn’t want me to be. We were not yet known but it was hard, it gave me as a phobia. I felt what Emilio calls castrofobiainstead of claustrophobia. I started dreaming that we couldn’t leave. I would one day sing in a free Cuba, although the dream is already getting farther and farther.
P. What is Miami for you?
R. Miami is my home. I lived a couple of years out when my father was in the American army. The happiest years of my childhood were in South Carolina because we were together my little sister, my dad and my mom, until he went to Vietnam and returned to Miami with my grandmother. Miami is like being in the Cuba of yesteryear and in Latin America at the same time as in the United States.
P. I had not sang in Spanish for a long time, what does the Spaniard give him English?
R. It is the language of my heart. In English you have to be more careful because in love songs they accuse you of being too sacred, or of being too expressive with emotions.
P. He has achieved success, awards and money. He has formed a family that seems united. Do you have perfect life?
R. I couldn’t ask for more! We are a normal family and there are things in all families, but I can’t ask for more because I have lived more than any dream I could have had. And yes, we are happy. We are a family that we love and we also like it, which is the difficult part.
P. Emilio recently told El País that she was to tell you whenever.
R. That is a joke. But thinking about it … He has never told me not to have anything that I have proposed. We have a lot of respect for each other. If it is something that I have to face with my face, it is my decision. Likewise, if it is something he is doing with another artist, it is his decision. We share any opinion, but we know how far the manager can go before ruining the husband. We have learned that over the years.
P. What is being Latin in the United States?
R. It is currently difficult and had never been difficult for me. Now I am afraid watching what is happening. I am afraid for others, not for me. And I know for the experience of my parents that one can think that everything is perfect and, suddenly, from one day to another, everything can fall.
P. Talk about Cuban experience.
R. Yes, one day they had everything and the next day …
P. Is this a key moment for the United States?
R. The Americans who have lived here a long time do not appreciate how fragile freedom is. Because it has always existed, obviously depending on who you are, because the African -American community in this country has passed and continues to happen a lot. And on Latinos, I am used to the fact that in each election the last one who entered the country is the one who pays the broken dishes. But the things that this country have maintained such as what they are always there and now we are seeing that pieces are falling, such as when someone ignores the order of a judge. So I’m praying a lot and not looking at a lot of television.
P. Is the deprime?
R. It worries me and gives me a little anxiety, I don’t like how it makes me feel. Obviously closing my eyes is not the right thing and if the time comes when I have to say something, I would.
P. They have never placed themselves politically in the United States.
R. Emilio and I are non-affiliated. We are neither Democrats nor Republicans. I think there are two games and everyone is in the middle. The extremes are always what is heard most, but most people are not. I have faith in this country, I have faith in the judicial system, but you have to be careful. Democracy is a living being that breathes and, if you don’t give it oxygen, it can die.
P. Would you tell Trump something?
R. If I have to tell him something, I tell him, but he will not listen to me.
P. What would it be?
R. Oh my God, I don’t even want to think!
P. It is said that Estefan have created an empire. Are you the Lady of the Empire?
R. Neither of them. Emilio continues to feel emigrant, every time we go to a hotel he takes the flip flops. He does not realize what he has done or think about that.
P. Sony rejected the song Conga Seven times and seven years later Emilio was president of Sony Latino. How is that done?
R. Well, we convince them. We were very successful. Emilio began to make albums, brought Ricky Martin to the Grammys and there was an explosion. Tommy Mottola is a very intelligent man and knew that there were people going to look for Emilio to make productions. Shakira arrived with his first album and I said: ‘Shaki, you can cross the puddle’. And to show him how I could work in English I wrote him Eyes like this, You e Inevitable. Shakira is super intelligent and creative and immediately put the batteries, she started learning and she began to compose in English.
P. Shakira, Karol G, Bad Bunny … Are the parents of the Latin boom?
R. I am very proud of them. Obviously they have another music style, but that has nothing to do: they are Latin. When I saw Bad Bunny in Saturday Night Live I filled with joy because that would not have happened before.
P. Do you like reggaeton?
R. There are some that are, there are others that are too graphic. For me, music inspires and makes you feel happy, but there is the artist’s freedom of expression. I come from the world that lived in the double meaning, in Cuba everything was in two way. I speak very clearly, but you have to have romance in life too. There is a reggaeton that I love and that is fun, but there is one that is a bit strong for me.
